Los Angeles no longer ranks as worst US city for traffic

Washington DC has overtaken Los Angeles as the US city with the worst traffic, in annual rankings from ConsumerAffairs.

Drivers around the US capital spend more time in traffic than in any other city, with average daily commute times of 33.4 minutes, according to traffic data from the 50 biggest metropolitan areas in the nation.

Washington’s average length of weekday congestion – the morning and evening rush hours – is six hours and 35 minutes, second only to Los Angeles, according to the report. That adds up to 71 days’ worth of sitting in traffic.

ConsumerAffairs is a private company that reviews and provides reviews on a variety of American products and services.

Miami, San Francisco and Atlanta round out the top five cities for worst traffic. Boston, Denver, Portland (Oregon), Chicago and Austin are the best.

“The cities with the worst traffic in America are among the cities with the highest economic output,” ConsumerAffairs said in its findings.

That’s because a region with a growing economy will attract new residents, while keeping current ones, who often choose to drive to work, Michael Manville, an urban planning professor at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, told ConsumerAffairs.

“Congestion is oftentimes a sign of economic prosperity,” he said.

Long notorious for traffic jams, Los Angeles is still the city that has the most congestion, with almost eight hours of traffic each day. However, the average commute time there is just over 30 minutes.

President Donald Trump’s orders that federal workers return to their offices, after years when many were allowed to work from home, has contributed to Washington’s new top spot.

While more people in the region are taking public transportation on weekdays than during the pandemic, bus and train use is still well below 2019 levels.

Local commuter Jonathan Roush told radio station WTOP he was not surprised by the findings, saying traffic in the D.C. region “stinks.”

“I schedule my work hours accordingly so I can avoid the traffic,” he said.

The cities with the least traffic congestion in the rankings are Rochester, Salt Lake City, and Cleveland

Those cities were once “centers of industry”, but no longer are, said Mr Manville, and have more road space for vehicles.

By BBC News